This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the inventions. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
In cellular networks (such as 3G networks, UMTS networks, LTE networks, or network variants thereof), a mobile is in one of three states: active, inactive/detached, or sleep/idle. In active mode, the mobile has a bearer channel that it uses to send/receive data to/from the base station (BS). In inactive mode, the mobile does not have a bearer channel, but it is listening to the downlink control channel and is able to participate in the uplink control channel when needed. In sleep mode, the mobile is only listening the paging channel. When there is data to be sent to the mobile, the Mobility Management Element (MME) tries to contact the mobile over the paging channel, by broadcasting the mobile's identifier (EMSI/IMEI). In response, the mobile wakes up, acknowledges the wakeup call to the MME, and then attempts to receive the data from the BS.
In high-load situations, where the MME is suddenly faced with an onslaught of data for multiple mobiles, it has to wakeup all of these mobiles as soon as possible. In a typical network with N mobiles, the system is designed to handle M simultaneous users, where M is approximately N/10. In overload situations, sometimes the BS is faced with a high number of users, for example, M>N/4. In such situations, most of the mobiles are in sleep mode, and the MME has to activate all of these mobiles in order to deliver their messages. The time taken to do this in sequential fashion (as is done presently) can be on the order of seconds, and this performance degrades heavily under load. Thus, new solutions and techniques that are able to reduce paging latency, at least in certain situations, would meet a need and advance wireless communications generally.
Specific embodiments of the present invention are disclosed below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Both the description and the illustrations have been drafted with the intent to enhance understanding. For example, the dimensions of some of the figure elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements, and well-known elements that are beneficial or even necessary to a commercially successful implementation may not be depicted so that a less obstructed and a more clear presentation of embodiments may be achieved. In addition, although the logic flow diagrams above are described and shown with reference to specific steps performed in a specific order, some of these steps may be omitted or some of these steps may be combined, sub-divided, or reordered without departing from the scope of the claims. Thus, unless specifically indicated, the order and grouping of steps is not a limitation of other embodiments that may lie within the scope of the claims.
Simplicity and clarity in both illustration and description are sought to effectively enable a person of skill in the art to make, use, and best practice the present invention in view of what is already known in the art. One of skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific embodiments described below without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative and exemplary rather than restrictive or all-encompassing, and all such modifications to the specific embodiments described below are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.